


no time to die

by princessoftheworlds



Series: fool me once, fool me twice [5]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Boeshane Peninsula, Immortal Ianto Jones, M/M, Post-Canon Fix-It, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26426254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessoftheworlds/pseuds/princessoftheworlds
Summary: They are walking hand-in-hand through the Boeshane marketplace when it happens. It’s a cool day, the blistering sun having retreated behind the shadowed cover of the clouds. Jack is calling out friendly greetings to neighbors and friends and other locals he recognizes while Ianto is wandering near traders’ carts to check the quality of the synthetic cloth and chat with the merchants, an instinct that hasn’t left him despite all the time since he left Leev.It happens so fast. One moment Jack is nuzzling his head against Ianto’s, their hand swinging loosely between them, the next, a quarrel between two nearby merchants has become louder until one of them whips out a sonic blade, waving it around without any real direction. It so unfortunately happens that when the merchant advances threateningly with the blade towards his opponent, Ianto happens to be walking only mere feet away and cannot suppress his heroic instincts to step between the two merc
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones
Series: fool me once, fool me twice [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819213
Comments: 22
Kudos: 56





	no time to die

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beleriandings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beleriandings/gifts).



> To Bel who I sent this angsty idea and then told me to write it. Sorry.

**5097**

**Boeshane Peninsula**

**Jack**

They are walking hand-in-hand through the Boeshane marketplace when it happens. It’s a cool day, the blistering sun having retreated behind the shadowed cover of the clouds. Jack is calling out friendly greetings to neighbors and friends and other locals he recognizes while Ianto is wandering near traders’ carts to check the quality of the synthetic cloth and chat with the merchants, an instinct that hasn’t left him despite all the time since he left Leev.

It happens so fast. One moment Jack is nuzzling his head against Ianto’s, their hand swinging loosely between them, the next, a quarrel between two nearby merchants has become louder until one of them whips out a sonic blade, waving it around without any real direction. It so unfortunately happens that when the merchant advances threateningly with the blade towards his opponent, Ianto happens to be walking only mere feet away and cannot suppress his heroic instincts to step between the two merchants.

The blade swipes cleanly through Ianto’s chest, leaving no blood - sonic weapons don’t do that - but instead a gaping, burn wound. Ianto gasps, staggers once while Jack watches with paralyzed horror, and collapses to the ground with a strangled “ _ Jack. _ ”

There’s no point to when Jack rushes to his side, both merchants having quickly fled, leaving behind a crowd of horrified onlookers, and feels for a pulse. Ianto is so obviously dead. Jack’s own heart rate rockets out of control as he falls under a fugue of shock and disbelief.

“ _ No, no, no, no, no, _ ” Jack murmurs, hands ghosting over Ianto’s cold skin.  _ Why is Ianto cold?  _ He was right by Jack’s side, rolling his eyes and making a snippy comment a moment ago. He can’t be dead.  _ Jack just got him back! _

Dimly, far back in the part of his brain that still allows rational thought, he is aware that Ianto will come back to him, will awaken with a strangled gasp like Jack himself does, but most of Jack has been transported to that horrible day when a cold, dying Ianto had lay in his arms and weeped for Jack to remember him for a thousand years.

Jack himself is weeping noisily now, having blocked out the concerned and panicking crowd gathered around him. He’s cradling Ianto’s body, his head propped in Jack’s lap, and unconsciously rocking back and forth, whimpering quietly.

“Please don’t leave me, Ianto,” he sobs, stroking fingers through Ianto’s soft hair. “Don’t leave me, Ianto. You promised. You promised you’d stay by my side for the rest of eternity!” He inhales sharply, chest heaving. “ _ We were supposed to have the rest of eternity! Don’t leave me! _ ”

He doesn’t notice how the gaping wound in Ianto’s chest is slowly closing, new skin stretching over it, setting off a new set of twitters among the crowd. Ianto’s hair is damp with Jack’s tears, yet Jack keeps weeping, a heavy stone block of sorrow crushing his chest. He was meant to have more time with Ianto. They’d barely been married a year.

Suddenly, Ianto gasps back to life in Jack’s arms, and Jack scrambles back, frightened. Later, he’ll realize the irony of his reaction when he’s been coming back to life like that for the last several millennia, but right now, there’s Ianto, alive in front of him again.

“Jack?” Ianto whispers, voice hoarse. He reaches for Jack, who quickly pulls him into his grasp, brushing kisses and trailing his fingers over every inch of Ianto’s skin that is visible.

“You’re alive, you’re alive,” Jack chants, still sniffling, thumb brushing reverently over Ianto’s cheekbone. “ _ How? _ ”

“I told you,” Ianto says, rubbing between Jack’s shoulder blades, “I will never leave you again. I can’t. You’re stuck with me.”

The smile that comes to Jack’s face might as well be brighter than the Boeshane sun. He snogs Ianto briefly but messily before both men become acutely aware of their watchers, many of whom have wide eyes but gaping mouths.

“Oh, fuck,” Ianto murmurs, hands balling into fists. He doesn’t want to have to leave Boeshane; this is Jack’s home, and they’ve only been back for a year. 

Then someone is shoving through the crowd, Auri, their wedding officiant and a family friend of Jack’s parents. 

“Take him home, Javic,” she tells a pale-faced Jack. “Take him home. I shall deal with this for you.”

Slackly, Jack nods, still clinging to Ianto, and obeys. When they finally break free of the rapt attention of the marketplace, they sprint to their home on the beach.

That night, when rumors drift up about the power and technology of the Time Agency and the invulnerability of Javic Thane, the Face of Boe, and his husband, Jack wraps his arms more tightly around Ianto in their bed, and stays up the entire night to watch him sleep.

Ianto will never leave his side, he realizes. He has Ianto forever. And Ianto has him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](http://princess-of-the-worlds.tumblr.com/) or on Twitter [here](https://twitter.com/rajkumarinik). I tweet and reblog mostly Torchwood with occasionally amusing commentary on nonsense. Please come talk to me and tell me if/how much you like my fic or like ask me about it on tumblr; all my schoolwork has become remote now, and I have limited social interaction. And if there's any other fool me once spinoffs you wanna see, feel free to ask in the comments!


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